The Strategist
by SF3P0X1
Summary: I've created an alternate reality, where not one Saiyan homeworld existed, but two! The planet of Mobius is under attack, and perhaps its only savior has arrived under different pretenses. OC's abound, you have been warned.
1. Chapter 1

It is common knowledge that in a battle between two strong Saiyans, those with smaller or expertly suppressed power levels can slip by them unnoticed. The planet of Mobius had become a battleground between Joe Slater, formerly the tyrant Saiyan Tycho from the planet Vegeta, and Prince Tarble, the current tyrant Saiyan from the planet Vegeta. Along with King Sonic, Prince Manic, and bodyguard Lara-Su, the power struggle against the corrupt Saiyan was fierce.

Nobody noticed another space capsule descend from the heavens.

This capsule crashed down into the old area of Robotropolis, in an admittedly un-patrolled area. This particular section of the Robotnik empire went largely unnoticed because of the uneven terrain and the large amount of rubble and ruins that made hunting for resistance nearly impossible by the guard robots. There was enough hiding spots and cover for a group of resistance to hide out and live indefinitely, and enough protection that even dropping a series of bombs would only serve to destroy more of the city and give the resistance more ground to roam. This is why Robotnik had given up on it.

The dust from the capsule's landing cleared, yet the door remained shut. The occupant inside was waiting for something; some kind of sign, a reason to leave the capsule. Perhaps waiting for a crowd to gather? No, he wasn't one to want to make a flashy appearance. No, the sole occupant was reading the power levels of the current fight, and making sure that he could stay away from it.

You heard right. This particular Saiyan preferred not to fight.

That isn't to say that he couldn't fight. On his planet, he was one of the top fighters, often dispatching some of the strongest warriors with a simple throw or a hold. This fighter had traversed the universe, seeking out skilled fighters on planets in order to learn from them.

His last stop had been a small blue planet called Earth. Once there, he had been able to seek out a Shinobi warrior named Ryu Hayabusa, and had learned an art called Ninjutsu. This art allowed him to mask his presence so much that even if he was standing right in front of someone, if they weren't looking at him, they'd have no idea he was there.

Imagine his surprise to learn that Saiyans were on Earth. He had been able to convince one of them to teach him some of his techniques, after watching the Saiyan fight and seeing some rather incredible moves being used by him, such as the ability to disappear from one spot and reappear almost instantaneously simply by placing one's fingers to one's forehead.

He was also able to learn how to channel his Ki, both for flying and projectile firing, a feat he had been unable to master on his homeworld.

With a small hiss, the door of the capsule opened, and a hand thrust out and gripped the side of the opening. The hand featured a white, cut-off glove that extended halfway down the forearm. The skin was pale, but healthy upon the warrior. A second hand grabbed the opposite side of the capsule, gloved in the same way, and the two hands strained to pull the warrior from his perch.

With a grunt, the warrior stepped forth from his capsule. He looked well-built, standing a bit over six feet tall, with a scarred face, and a black tail that waved back and forth instead of staying around his waist like most Saiyans. Over Earth military style shaved black hair, the Saiyan worse a black bandanna, tied into a knot, with the two ends trailing down behind him and resting on his shoulders. His eyes were clear blue, and he extended an aura of friendliness, rather than one of cruelty.

He wore a white undershirt that partially covered his shoulders, and a black, V-cut t-shirt over that. His pants were loose, cotton cloth, in a strange pattern of blue, gray, and black, and tucked into black and white boots. A black cloth, knotted, served as a satisfactory belt, and completed the Saiyan's outfit.

Archis had arrived on Mobius.


	2. Chapter 2

To the west, Archis could sense the fight. The aura of Prince Tarble was readily recognizable, but there was a second Saiyan of which Archis could not recognize. He found it odd that two Saiyans would be on the same planet, much less fighting each other rather than fighting together, but then he was told the same thing had happened on the planet Earth. He had met Prince Vegeta there, and had learned the Prince was calling the planet home, but when he had first arrived there he had fought against another Saiyan himself: the warrior Kakarot, or Goku as he preferred to be called.

Archis knew that if either of the Saiyans ran across him, he'd probably be fighting for his life. He knew that the power level he held at his peak was equal to that of the unknown Saiyan, but he'd have to make sure to suppress his Ki long enough for Tarble to be taken out, or else he'd be killed.

Archis was from the planet Castor, a sister planet to the former planet Vegeta. The planet Castor was used a thousand years prior to Vegeta's destruction as a planet for banishment, as the King Vegeta at the time had been a Saiyan of softer heart, and had seen visions of his planet's destruction and his race's near extinction. For a nearly a thousand years, the kings of Vegeta sent their prisoners and troublemakers to Castor, instead of killing them off on the spot, until the last king Vegeta overthrew the law, saying it made the Saiyan race weak.

Saiyans of Castor prefer intelligence and strategy over brute strength, and so are considered to be inferior to the Saiyans of Vegeta. Archis was the Prince of Castor, the only son of his father king Castor, and the first prince in a hundred years to not be named Castor after his father. In fact, the rule of Castor, when his father died, would not be passed to him. Instead, it would go to one of his sisters: princess Castor.

The ruling class of Castor passed down their crown to the first born, regardless of gender, unlike most planets. Having a Queen instead of a King from time to time allowed the Saiyans of the planet to retain their compassion for other species.

Castor did not work for Frieza. The Saiyans of Castor had technology that far surpassed the Ki concentration techniques of Frieza, and the tyrant knew that if he pressured them, the Saiyans of Castor could completely destroy him. Instead, Frieza made sure that the planet remained unknown, to try to boycott the planet for their refusal to follow his lead.

And yet, they flourished.

Archis had been sent to Mobius as an effort to gain an alliance. His father had learned of a great power residing on the planet, and wanted to make friends with the leaders in an effort to gain an ally if they should happen to be attacked. Having witnessed the destruction of its sister planet, Castor wanted to become the peacekeeping planet of the universe.

Archis climbed out from the crater that his pod had created, and looked around. The scanner on his face showed that the greatest power levels were to the west, as noted before, centered in one group. Archis decided to look for the weakest power levels instead, knowing that in most planets, the weakest power levels had the greatest ruling capacity. The lowest level he could scan was to the north of him.

He thought about flying in the direction, or using that Instant Transmission move that he had been taught by Goku, but considering the power of the other Saiyans on the planet, he knew that doing so would be a bad idea. The minute his Ki was noticed, Tarble would come gunning for him. It was well known on Castor that Tarble held an immense, unfounded hatred for the Saiyans of Castor, and would forsake any opponent he had just to utterly destroy a Castor Saiyan. The only thing keeping the prince from destroying Castor was the means to do so were not yet in his grasp.

No, Archis would have to walk. He looked in the direction and could barely see a castle looming in the distance. Three miles he would have to walk to get there. He sighed, and began stretching. The seven month journey from Earth to Mobius had left him stiff. Once sufficiently loose, Archis began walking. He hoped that the ruling caste would allow him to speak with them, without raising an alarm.

Suddenly, he stopped. He turned towards the west, where the fight was, in time to see the entire area turn purple.

'Galick Gun,' he thought. Now he REALLY didn't want to get involved. Especially if the one using Vegeta's move was the unknown Saiyan. He could only guess at the level of Tarble's fury would be once it faded.


	3. Chapter 3

If you think about it, three miles isn't really that far. Temporarily distracted, Archis soon set off to the north, towards the spires of the castle in the distance. At a good pace, the Saiyan could cover the distance in about twenty minutes without breaking much of a sweat. That was a mile in a little over six minutes, which was a nice feat in itself, but a bit slower than what Archis was used to.

The purple light from the Galick Gun faded, but Archis ignored it. He was concentrated on hiding his Ki energy. This concentration afforded him some time to think.

'There's a battle of Saiyans going on right now. This means that one Saiyan has come to this planet to conquer it, and the other... what, does he live here? Maybe he's not a Saiyan, then. Maybe he's some other being of a powerful race that lives here, and Tarble was the one who used the Galick Gun...'

Archis didn't know the truth, but he was going to find out, one way or the other.

The ruins of the area in which his pod landed gave way to open countryside, and Archis allowed himself to breathe in the air and admire the scenery. He felt that it was incredibly beautiful here. His own planet had long since made trees an endangered species. Granted, the Saiyan was used to the purple leaves of Castor, but he felt the green he was seeing fit the landscape perfectly. Soon enough, the Saiyan was passing a forest which had a visible stream passing in front of it, and the first few Mobians he would ever see could be seen playing in said forest, without a care in the world. Archis couldn't tell what they looked like from where he was walking, but with his mind focused on other tasks, he didn't pursue it.

Three quarters of the way there, Archis finally understood why he could see the castle from where he landed. It was perched atop a great hill, which allowed the building to be raised higher than the rest of the land. While it was a great idea that helped to promote a sense of protection, it left the castle open to attacks from flying objects, as fliers would most likely target the castle first.

He neared the castle gates, and made out the form of two armored guards standing on either side. It would be here that he'd have his best view of a Mobian. He could make out claws underneath the armored gauntlets, and their faces seemed to be animalistic in nature, featuring long snouts. If anything, Archis would swear they looked like humanized Earthen anteaters.

Both guards produced spears and crossed them over his path as Archis approached the gate. Slater's arrival (as Tycho at the time) had been four decades previous, and the current guards were no more than thirty years old a piece, so neither of the two had been around for his arrival and neither had seen a Saiyan with tail intact. They were partially mesmerized by it's casual movement, and Archis finally noticed this fact, consciously wrapping it around his waist to keep it steady. The Saiyan took a deep breath and tried to make himself seem as respectable as possible.

"I wish to speak with your ruling party about a peace treaty and alliance."

The guards looked at each other, nodded, then uncrossed their spears. The one on the right looked directly at Archis. "Follow me. I'll take you to see Queen Sally."

Normally, NICOLE would have been the one to guard the castle's entrance, but she was currently down for maintenance. That was the only bad thing about having a program run security for your entire city; the fact that anything could attack during a routine maintenance checkup.

The guard led Archis through the front doors of the castle, and towards a number of stairs. As the two passed through hallways, rooms, and stairways, Archis glanced about him. For such a large castle, it wasn't very lavish inside. It looked as if the ruling party lived in the castle unwillingly, as if they were required to live there in order to lead. The castle looked a bit disheveled and unkempt, and it led Archis to begin to formulate an opinion about the ruling parties before he had even met them. He still desired to be respectful, and mindful of his father's wishes, and subconsciously wondered if after all the 'paperwork' had passed, he could live here on this planet.

After all, if the two planets allied, he would defend this one with his very life.


	4. Chapter 4

Standing at the door to the throne room, one of the guards asked for his information. He gave the information to the guard, who then slipped into the room and shut the door. He conveniently left out the part of the information that he was from another planet, as logic would dictate that revealing such information would probably cause the guards to arrest and imprison him on the spot. Or try to.

The silence around him lasted for quite a while, and Archis wondered if the Queen had refused his request for a viewing. That couldn't be right, though. They wouldn't leave him standing in front of the throne room if she had refused to see him, would they?

A feeble sounding trumpet blast interrupted the silence, and the door in front of Archis opened.

"Introducing representative Archis, of Castor!" came the announcement.

Taking a deep breath and mentally making sure that his tail was wrapped around his waist, Archis strode semi-confidently into the room. The Queen, on her throne, looked distracted and worried, and Archis figured that her husband must be ill or something, which would be cause for her worry. While he was still a good distance away, Archis took in her form. What surprised him the most was that she seemed to be a humanized squirrel or chipmunk, and she was dressed in a royal robe of sorts, done up with a ton of ribbons and lace. When he was a respectful distance from her throne, Archis dropped to one knee and bowed his head in reverence. He wanted to make a good impression.

He heard the ruffling of clothes, so he guessed the Queen was standing. He heard her clear her throat, and in a silky tone of confidence she told him to stand. He did so, raising his hand to his bandanna and removing it in the process, something he had forgotten to do when he first entered.

He looked into her eyes, realizing that all focus was now on him, no matter how much worry the Queen still obviously had.

"Castor..." she started, "I don't believe I've ever heard of such a place. Is it near here?"

"No ma'am," was his reply.

"Hm," she responded. She moved to take a step and nearly lost her balance. "DAMN THESE ROYAL GARMENTS!"

Archis was surprised at her outburst and lost his focus, which caused two things to happen. Firstly, his tail unwrapped itself from around his waist, and held itself up behind him and at his side, the tip flicking every so often, much like it was trying to prove it existed. And secondly, for a brief moment, he lost control of his Ki suppression, which caused his Ki to spike to a level that would be noticeable to a Saiyan paying attention or looking for it. Luckily Archis was able to bring it back down to a subdued level quickly, but he hoped and prayed that Tarble hadn't spotted it.

Queen Sally had finally regained her balance, and was smoothing out the wrinkles in the mass of lace she wore. "I'm sorry for that, Archis," she said, beginning to look up from her dress.

"It's quite alright, ma'am," was his reply. The fact that his tail was no longer wrapped around his waist had been forgotten.

"I have to wear this damned thing when I meet new guests," she said, with a sigh, then focused on him again. "So what have... you..." her words slowed to a halt as she caught sight of his tail, which had chosen that moment to snake over his right shoulder and twitch.

Under her breath, Sally muttered a word in fear, and though Archis didn't know what it was she had said, he could tell from her face that he was not the first Saiyan she had come in contact with. With a sigh, he lowered his head, eyes to the floor, then dropped to his knees and placed his hands behind his back. He mentally kicked himself for not making sure his tail was still in place after her outburst.

Sally was about to call for the guards before Archis dropped to the floor. She was intrigued. "What do you want, Saiyan?" Her voice, slightly timid, was not filled with the malice that Archis had grown accustomed to.

"I come as a representative of my planet, to ask to be aligned with yours. We offer our intelligence and technology to be used freely in the development of your planet, as you see fit. We present our greatest warriors to offer help to your planet in times of need. Castor wishes to be nothing more than allies." Archis hoped his presentation would be respectful enough, in the current situation.

"Your planet... I thought the Saiyan homeworld was destroyed!"

Archis lifted his head. "There have been two main Saiyan worlds in the history of the Saiyan race; Vegeta and Castor. Vegeta had been around for millennia, while Castor has only been inhabited by Saiyans for a thousand years or so. Castor Saiyans are a peace-loving race, and we are identified by our tails; Vegeta Saiyans have brown tails, Castor Saiyans have black tails.

"There once was a tyrant who went by the name of Frieza, who had employed the Saiyans of Vegeta as his brute force. Their job was to conquer other planets, completely obliterating the beings on those planets, and then report back to Frieza so that he could sell those planets to other races in return for their allegiance to him. Frieza offered the same job to the Saiyans of Castor, but we refused. We treasure life, and despise those who wish to destroy it.

"Knowing that we already possessed technology that could destroy him before he could destroy us, he instead made sure to wipe our existence from the universe a different way. Instead of completely obliterating all beings on a planet, Saiyans were taught to leave survivors, so that the Saiyan race would be feared. This meant that Castor Saiyans would be met with skepticism and distrust no matter where they went.

"It worked." Archis sighed. "In my travels, I have come across only one planet that hadn't already met with a Saiyan from Vegeta. The race on that planet was instinctual, who lived only to feed. They had black, rubbery skin, with elongated heads, and bled acid. They were strong, fierce creatures, and they had no use for diplomacy. I barely escaped with my life. I do believe that even the Legendary Super Saiyan would have trouble on that planet.

"But every other planet I have visited before and since has looked upon me and my proposal with disgust. I left those planets without causing trouble, and as far as I know, each of those planets still stand, save for one, which was destroyed by Frieza when he died.

"Vegeta is gone, and with it, its brutish inhabitants. Castor wants to make up for the mistakes of its sister planet." Archis bowed his head. "Friendship is all we ask."

Sally opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the sound of a loud explosion. Either the fight Archis had glimpsed on the way to the castle had moved closer, or someone was REALLY pissed off.


	5. Chapter 5

The look on Queen Sally's face turned from worry to panic. Several times she opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out and she closed it. She looked like a fish struggling to breathe out of water.

Archis stood, turning towards the windows of the castle. The shockwave from the explosion thankfully wasn't strong enough to shatter them, but it had come close. Their creaking was apparent, and noticeable enough for even a layman. Archis closed his eyes, placed his fingers to his temple, and concentrated, looking for power levels.

His eyes snapped open when he found them. There was now one Saiyan fighting, and another being of immense power. The second Saiyan's Ki was completely gone.

"Please..." From behind him, Archis heard Sally begging him. He turned and found her on her knees in front of him. Had he been a lesser, more disrespectful Saiyan, he probably would have offered something perverted at her prostrate stance.

"Please. My son and husband are fighting out there, as well as another Saiyan; a family friend. We'll ally with Castor, just please help them. Save my family!"

Archis' sense of compassion overruled his fear of Tarble. He knelt, placing his hands on the squirrel's shoulders, and he lifted her to her feet. "I'll do what I can," he said. Placing his fingers to his forehead, he released his suppressed Ki and disappeared all at once.

He reached the clearing and the fight without so much as a flash. A yellow hedgehog, sparks flying over his body much like a Super Saiyan, seemed to be waiting for him.

"I felt your power from the castle. What did you do to my mother?"

His hands were balled into fists, and energy seemed to be building into them. Archis held up his hands.

"My name is Archis, and I come from a planet called Castor. I came here to negotiate peace between our planets. She wants me to help you, so I am."

There was a grunt from behind the two of them, and they turned to see Tarble emerging from the crater. The look in his eyes was that of fury, but it wasn't directed at Manic.

"YOU!" He pointed a finger at the Castor Saiyan. "YOU DON'T F*CKING BELONG HERE!"

Archis crossed his arms over his chest, the slightest hint of a smirk crossing his face. "Nor do you. You should probably leave before you get hurt."

Tarble growled, yellow energy forming in his fists. "You think you're so important, still having a planet! Still having a home! Your presence here has desecrated this planet! After I take you out... I AM GOING TO REDUCE THIS SH*THOLE TO DUST!"

With a furious warcry, Tarble launched forward at Archis, with the intent of driving the energy from his fist into the enemy's stomach, to have it explode out his back. He didn't expect the Castor Saiyan to catch his fist.

"I AM THE PRINCE OF SAIYANS! I AM THE STRONGEST OF ALL SAIYANS, EVEN ABOVE MY BROTHER! YOU CANNOT DEFEAT ME!" Tarble had gone insane in his rage.

Archis merely smirked, placing two fingers of his right hand to his temple, his left still holding on to Tarble's fist. "Bakkurasshu," he said.

Tarble felt like his entire arm erupted in pain. He screamed in agony and wrenched his fist from the Saiyan's grip, holding his smoking arm in pain. He looked back at Archis with pure hate. "How DARE you! You're nothing to me! You're even less than that Tycho b*stard, and he was lower than dirt!" With another growl, Tarble launched at Archis and began throwing a flurry of punches and kicks towards his enemy.

Archis merely moved his head out of the way of each attack, holding on to a fun-loving smile all the while. Just as he had known, Tarble had completely denied the existence of the golden hedgehog in his insistence that Archis needed to die right here and now.

Tarble could see that his attacks were missing, so he stopped aiming for the Saiyan's head and instead tried for some body attacks. Archis seemed to anticipate the change, because his attacks continued to miss. Tarble started changing up his attacks, no longer aiming, just throwing punches and kicks wildly, screaming at Archis in his rage. "WHY WHY WHY? YOU CAN'T BEAT ME, WHY CAN'T I HIT YOU?"

Archis tilted his head just enough that one of Tarble's attacks brushed the bandanna he had on, and in a smooth motion, the cloth was removed from his head. This was done on purpose, so that Tarble could see the shining golden hair that matched his tail. Archis had been Super the entire time, and had hidden it well to anyone who didn't pay attention, much like Tarble.

Tarble jumped back, roaring, and launched a volley of energy attacks at Archis. Archis didn't dodge, but instead deflected every attack away from himself and into the air, where they exploded in a flash of red light. Tarble continued to fire his attacks, and Archis continued to deflect them.

Growing tired of the mindless destruction, Archis placed his the his pointer and middle fingers from both hands to his temples, and concentrated. When he pulled them away, they both had small blue balls of energy levitating over the tips of them. Combining the energy balls into a single orb, Archis grabbed the energy and threw it baseball-style at Tarble. "Ki Shōsan!"

Tarble, instead of moving, held still, intent on taking the blast and proving superiority. The blast, instead of exploding, entered the Saiyan and disappeared, and Tarble dropped to his knees, suddenly feeling completely worn out. It was like his Ki had been removed from his body. Archis, skidded to a stop in front of the Prince, and grinned, and Tarble stared at him in fury. "WHAT ARE YOU LOOKIN' AT?"

Archis simply kept his smile, and jumped into the air. Tarble followed him with his eyes until he disappeared, at which point he stared forward at Manic, who grinned. "Eat this, Tarble."

The blast the hedgehog let forth was a dazzling gold. Tarble threw up his arms in a futile attempt to resist the blast.

"How? How did I lose... to these stupid... arrogant... weak... HOW?" he screamed into the blast. "AAAUUUUGGGGGHHHHH!"

After the battle ended, Archis kept an eye on Manic. He collapsed from the expelling of power, and he, along with his family, were collected and placed into the hospital. The second Saiyan was collected into a body bag, and carted off elsewhere. Archis made sure to stay out of the cameras' eyes, not wanting to expose himself to what would no doubt be a media frenzy.

He had lent his help to the battle as best he could, and had not realized that his training had made him as strong as it did. But it didn't matter. The young hedgehog Manic was a wonderful protector, raised and trained well by the fallen Saiyan Tycho. Archis' one regret was that he had not been able to meet the Saiyan before he died.

Entering into the hospital room where Manic lay, Archis strode gently to the hedgehog's bedside. He placed his hand on Manic's shoulder and sighed gently. The hedgehog was asleep, still exhausted from his ordeal.

"Don't linger on your friend's death too long, young Manic," he said, knowing that the hedgehog probably couldn't hear him. "I'm sure you'll see him again. Good Saiyans don't stay dead for long."

He removed his hand from the hedgehog's shoulder, placed his hand to his forehead, and teleported away. He needed to get back to Castor and inform his father of their treaty. Then perhaps he could come back for a visit.


End file.
